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Retro (Brighton marathon training, weeks 1 & 2)

Having long planned my first marathon for April this year, and not even started a training plan, let alone approached the 2016 start line, it is with some trepidation that I am now contemplating lining up alongside thousands of others on 9 April 2017 at the Brighton Marathon in less than fourteen weeks time.

Consequently, I must already be two weeks into my sixteen week marathon training. And, that having now occurred to me, it would seem reasonable to have an actual plan in mind. Fortunately with such a long lead time I have had plenty of time to consider several options. Taking into account my current level of fitness and my recent history of injury I have decided on a relatively conservative training plan that requires four running days per week. Fully fit I like to run on five days. Right now, I am just ready to move up from three to four days per week.

So, retrospectively comparing my last two weeks running with the first two weeks of my training plan, it seems my first two weeks have gone reasonably well …

week 1 – ending Thursday 22 December

day*

training

Fri

—

(swim 1.0k, 28 mins)

Sat

57 mins including 20:37 5k parkrun

(4:42/km average)

Sun

—

Mon

51 mins easy

(5:02/km average)

Tue

—

Wed

72 mins easy

(5:08/km average)

Thu

—

total

3 hrs (+30 mins versus training plan)

*The plan I’m using has long runs on a Sunday, as is traditional. I currently do mine on a Thursday, hence the shift compared to the snippet below.

Reflecting on my first two weeks, I can see that I’ve run slightly too far and over three days not four, but of course I was unaware of my training plan at the time. I will, naturally, be running with the plan in mind in the coming weeks. Also, I’m aware that my parkrun habit is introducing speed where the improver plan does not currently specify any. I am not going to be giving up parkrunning completely, but recognise that I need to temper my efforts to some extent so as not to defeat my marathon training.